Human-Computer Interaction and Operators Performance: Optimizing Work Design with Activity Theory (Ergonomics Design and Management: Theory and Applications)

464 Pages·2010·6.34 MB·English

by  Gregory Z. Bedny

Ergonomics Design and Management:
Theory and Applications
Series Editor
Waldemar Karwowski
Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
University of Central Florida (UCF) – Orlando, Florida
Published Titles
Ergonomics in Developing Regions: Needs and Applications
Patricia A. Scott
Ergonomics and Psychology: Developments in Theory and Practice
Olexiy Ya Chebykin, Gregory Z. Bedny, and Waldemar Karwowski
Human–Computer Interaction and Operators’ Performance: Optimizing Work
Design with Activity Theory
Gregory Z. Bedny and Waldemar Karwowski
Trust Management in Virtual Organizations: A Human Factors Perspective
Wiesław M. Grudzewski, Irena K. Hejduk, Anna Sankowska, and Monika Wan´tuchowicz
Forthcoming Titles
Ergonomics: Foundational Principles, Applications and Technologies
P. McCauley-Bush
Knowledge Service Engineering Handbook
Jussi Kantola and Waldemar Karwowski
Handbook of Human Factors in Consumer Product Design, 2 vol. set
Waldemar Karwowski, M. M. Soares, and Neville A. Stanton
Human Factors Interaction: Theories in Consumer Product Design
Human Factors Design: Case Studies in Consumer Product Design
Organizational Resource Management: Theories, Methodologies, and Applications
Jussi Kantola

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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Human-computer interaction and operator’s performance : optimizing work design with
activity theory / editors, Gregory Z. Bedny and Waldemar Karwowski.
p. cm. -- (Ergonomics design and management. Theory and applications)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4398-3626-2 (alk. paper)
1. Human-computer interaction. 2. Human-computer interaction--Psychological
aspects. 3. Human engineering--Psychological aspects. I. Bednyi, G. Z. (Grigorii
Zakharovich) II. Karwowski, Waldemar, 1953- III. Title. IV. Series.
QA76.9.H85H8562 2010
004.01’9--dc22 2010005496
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at
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Contents
Preface ....................................................................................................................vii
Contributors ........................................................................................................xvii
Section I Activity Theory in Studying Performance
1. Introduction to Applied and Systemic‑Structural
Activity Theory ...............................................................................................3
G. Bedny and W. Karwowski
2. The Relationship between External and Internal Aspects in
Activity Theory and Its Importance in the Study of Human Work ...31
G. Bedny, W. Karwowski, and F. Voskoboynikov
Section II Human–Computer Interaction
3. Task Concept and Its Major Attributes in Ergonomics
and Psychology..............................................................................................63
W. Karwowski and G. Bedny
4. Task Concept in Production and Nonproduction Environments .......89
G. Bedny and W. Karwowski
5. Microgenetic Principles in the Study of Computer‑Based Tasks .....117
T. Sengupta, I. Bedny, and G. Bedny
6. Abandoned Actions Reveal Design Flaws: An Illustration by
a Web‑Survey Task .....................................................................................149
I. Bedny and G. Bedny
Section III Evaluation of Computer Users’
Psychophysiological Functional State
7. Optimization of Human–Computer Interaction by Adjusting
Psychophysiological State of the Operator ............................................185
A. M. Karpoukhina
v
vi Contents
8. Psychophysiological Analysis of Students’ Functional
States during Computer Training ...........................................................201
D. A. Yakovetc and I. Bedny
Section IV Work Activity in Aviation
9. Characteristics of Pilots’ Activity in Emergency Situations
Resulting from Technical Failure............................................................223
V. Ponomarenko and G. Bedny
10. Functional Analysis of Pilot Activity: A Method of
Investigation of Flight Safety ..................................................................255
V. Ponomarenko and W. Karwowski
11. Methodology for Teaching Flight‑Specific English to
Nonnative English–Speaking Air‑Traffic Controllers ........................277
R. Makarov and F. Voskoboynikov
Section V Special Topics in the Study of Human
Work from the Activity Theory Perspective
12. Functional Analysis of Attention ............................................................307
G. Bedny and W. Karwowski
13. Real and Potential Structures of Activity and the
Interrelationship with Features of Personality ....................................331
G. Zarakovsky and W. Karwowski
14. Application of Laser‑Based Acupuncture to Improve
Operators’ Psychophysiological States ..................................................363
A. M. Karpoukhina and O. Kokun
15. Information Processing and Holistic Learning and Training
in an Organization: A Systemic‑Structural Activity
Theoretical Approach ................................................................................385
K. Synytsya and H. von Brevern
16. Effort, Fatigue, Sleepiness, and Attention Networks Activity:
A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study .............................411
T. Marek, M. Fafrowicz, K. Golonka, J. Mojsa-Kaja, H. Oginska,
K. Tucholska, E. Beldzik, A. Domagalik, W. Karwowski, and A. Urbanik
Index .....................................................................................................................437
Preface
In recent times, activity theory (AT) has increasingly attracted the attention of
scientists and practitioners in various countries. Numerous articles and books
in the field in English, published in the West including the United States, are
based primarily on the works of the Russian scholars Vygotsky and Leont’ev.
However, these publications do not reflect any important data from the applied
activity theory (AAT). Furthermore, a majority of the scientists from the former
Soviet Union who have contributed to this field are unknown in the West.
There is a fundamental difficulty in the translation of texts containing
the data obtained in the field of AT from Russian into English. Thus, inad-
equate translations have led to incorrect descriptions and interpretations of
the original meaning of the basic terms and concepts from the perspective
of general AT. In addition, the terminologies and basic principles of AAT are
practically unknown in the West. Contradictions between general AT and
AAT, in addition to the existence of different schools of psychology, create
additional difficulty in the interpretation of the terminologies and principles
of both general AT and AAT. The words and technical terms used in AAT
have different meanings and interpretations in Western psychology. In this
context, this book provides readers with new and important theoretical and
applied concepts in the study of human work from the perspective of AT. The
conceptual apparatus of AAT and its relationship with systemic- structural
activity theory (SSAT) are discussed in this book.
According to AT, human mental development is the result of the acqui-
sition of sociohistorical experience. Human beings are born into a social
world where they interact with other humans and artifacts. In AT, artifacts
are physical tools, used as both means of work and sign systems. Together,
artifacts and culture have shaped mental development and the nature of
human thought. Work is a critical form of human activity, whereas technol-
ogy (means, tools of work, and sign systems) is an important class of arti-
facts that influences the structure of human thought. Technological progress
drives human history and determines its progress. The nature of technol-
ogy influences the types of activity that humans engage in. For example,
an average American currently spends hours every day using the Internet,
which only became popular in the 1990s. Technology thus influences human
activity, and conversely, human activity influences technology. This interde-
pendence of technology and human work activity was the departure point
for the development of general and applied AT in Russian psychology.
Vygotsky (1978), the founder of the cultural–historical theory of human
mental development, was the first to introduce the concept of tools and signs
in psychology as an important source of mental development. He used these
notions to explain the origins of consciousness and cognition in general.
vii
viii Preface
Vygotsky strove to understand human behavior and consciousness through
a historical analysis of human labor. Technology and human labor are con-
sidered the basis for the development of AT and its applications. The rela-
tionship between technology and human activity is a major object of study
in ergonomics and work psychology.
Because AT is specifically suited to the understanding of the interaction
of human activity and technology, there is an ever-increasing interest in the
application of AT to the study of human work (Engestrom 2000; Kaptelinin
and Nardi 2006; and others). For the English-speaking world, access to impor-
tant works in AAT has been relatively fragmental until now. The Russian
scholars Rubinshtein (1957, 1959) and Leont’ev (1978) developed general
AT. The parts of the work of Leont’ev are relatively well known through the
collection of works edited by Wertsch in 1981 and the later translation of his
work. However, an important branch of general AT founded by Rubinshtein
is practically unknown in the West. Although Leont’ev’s and Rubinshtein’s
schools share some similarities, they differ significantly. Leont’ev empha-
sized the importance of the internalization process in mental development,
whereas Rubinshtein argued that a person does not simply internalize ready-
made standards. According to Rubinshtein, a person’s external world acts
on the mind through the mind’s own internal conditions. “External influ-
ences on mental development always act through internal conditions”
(Rubinshtein 1959). Some of the data from Rubinshtein’s works and a com-
parison of his work with those of Vygotsky (1978) and Leont’ev (1978) can be
found in the works of Bedny and Karwowski (2007) and Chebykin, Bedny,
and Karwowski (2008).
General AT, as developed by Leont’ev and Rubenshtein, is not easily appli-
cable to the study of human work. This fact has motivated the development
of AAT or operationalized AT (Zarakovsky 2004). Unlike general AT, AAT
has various methods for describing the structure of work activity and uti-
lizes not only qualitative, but also quantitative methods of analysis. (For
overviews of the latter in English, refer to Lomov 1969; Landa 1976; Bedny
and Meister 1997; Ponomarenko 2004; and Zarakovsy 2004.)
During the last two decades, a new approach within AT has been developed
(Bedny and Karwowski 2007). This approach is called “systemic-s tructural
activity theory” and is derived from general AT and AAT (Bedny 1987). SSAT
views activity as a goal-directed system, where cognition, behavior, and moti-
vation are integrated and organized by the mechanisms of self-regulation
toward achieving a conscious goal. Cognitive and behavioral actions, opera-
tions, function blocks, and members of human algorithms are considered
the basic units of activity analysis. SSAT classifies, describes, and extracts
the units of activity analysis from the processes of activity. It also proposes
stages and levels of work-activity analysis, in addition to qualitative and
quantitative methods of study. SSAT studies work activity at various levels
of detail, depending on the purpose of study. It proposes simplified methods
of analysis when they are appropriate to the purpose of the analyses. SSAT is
Preface ix
a general psychological theory or framework that is theoretically articulated
and has been successfully applied in a wide range of situations, in addition
to examining human work at a very detailed level.
AAT represents itself in a number of relatively independent theoretical
concepts. In some cases, the terminology and the theoretical principles are
not sufficiently coordinated and are not in agreement with each other. All
these factors create considerable difficulties in describing the original mean-
ing of data obtained in AAT.
In this context, it should be noted that the data in some articles have been
obtained from the AAT field and interpreted from an SSAT perspective.
The latter (SSAT) allows the presentation of a more accurate description of
experimental data. Another important factor for using SSAT is that English-
speaking readers can more easily overcome terminology barriers and contra-
dictions that exist between the different schools of psychology of AT used in
the former Soviet Union. The term “systemic-structural analysis” often uti-
lizes both general AT and AAT. Nevertheless, there is a considerable diver-
gence between the general philosophical discourse on the systemic-structural
analysis of activity and its implementation.
At present, with just a few notable exceptions (Galaktionov 1978; Konopkin
1980; Kotik 1978; Ponomarenko 2004, 2006; Zarakovsky and Pavlov 1978,
2004), we can discern only general philosophical discussions about the
systemic-structural analysis of activity, rather than its real development in
the study of work activity.
Moreover, the authors mentioned above (as exceptions) have described
only some aspects of systemic-structural analysis of activity. Under the
systemic-structural analysis of activity, we understand the principles and
methods that allow us (1) to create a standardized language for describing
the structure and measurements of activity and the units of analysis and (2)
to develop various methods of creating mutually interdependent models of
activity. Such an approach should provide clearly described stages and levels
of analysis of activity, methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis, and
so on. It seems to us that at present, such an approach has been developed
only in SSAT. Specifically, the SSAT approach allows the unified translation
and interpretation of data in the field of AAT. SSAT must hence be consid-
ered a new theoretical and practical direction or framework, which is closely
linked to general AT and AAT. The basic ideas in SSAT should not be con-
fused with the system concept in ergonomics, which studies man–machine
systems. Here, we discuss activity as a structurally organized system that
interacts with a machine system. There are probabilistic interrelationships
between the structure of the technical components and the structure of
activity.
In this volume, we present the works of different authors describing new
data obtained in relation to general AT, AAT, and SSAT. However, the ter-
minology used in this volume is unified and standardized from the SSAT
perspective (Bedny and Karwowski 2007).